Cultural and Political Inventions in Modern China: The Case of the Chinese “Peasant”
Author(s)
Cohen, Myron L.
Abstract
The Communist government in China is attempting to become more legitimate by reorganizing both the economy and the socialist society. This requires leaders to portray the ‘old’ society in a way that makes it undesirable. The Chinese began to create the image of an objectionable old society in the early 1900s, which involved a redefinition of Chinese culture, particularly the culture of rural areas. The Chinese began calling the rural people ‘peasants’ who interfered with national development.
